My Martin Brodeur Autographs

As an autograph collector, not having any Martin Brodeur autographs in my collection would be like a baseball team not having any baseballs. It would be absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, I do not have as many Broduer autographs as a baseball team, but the ones I do have mean a lot to me.

I have seen some Brodeur collections that absolutely blow mine out of the water. When I started collecting Brodeur, I envisioned myself becoming a Brodeur supercollector, but unfortunately, that neer happened. Instead, I have a couple of nice cards and some pretty cool photos of the greatest goalie that ever played the game.

2007 SportsKings Martin Brodeur Autograph

This was the first Broduer graph I picked up. I grabbed it off eBay for around 30.00. It's not the greatest card. SportsKings couldn't show The Devils logo, but despite that, I am quite fond of this card because it was the very first Martin Brodeur autograph I picked up for my collection.

2007/08 SPx Hockey Martin Brodeur Winning Materials Dual Jersey Autograph #'ed to 25

This card is probably the best in my limited collection of Brodeur autographs. This was a pick up at the Westchester County Sports Card Show a few years back. If I remember correctly, I picked this up at the end of the show for a lot less than the dealer was asking earlier in the day. I mentally noted the card, where it was and made sure to swing by later to see if he would take less for it. Surprisingly, he took a lot less. The card went home with me and to this day I am thrilled to have it in my collection.

2007 Fleer Hot Prospects Martin Brodeur Hotagraphs Autograph

This card was the last Brodeur autograph I have grabbed to this point. I'm always looking to pick up Brodeur autographs, but the prices are at times too high for me. Lucky, I found this card on eBay for a lot less than I paid for the previous two cards I picked up. I would love to have been the guy to thought of the name for this subset. I would have came up with one a lot better than Hotagraphs.

That's all my Broduer certified signed cards. I do have some signed Marty photo's in my collection.

This signed 8x10 was a gift from a fellow collector who was looking to clear out some clutter he had. Now, I don't know about you, but a signed Martin Brodeur picture should never be considered clutter. The only draw back to this picture is the fact that it's signed in black sharpie and most of the signature was signed on he dark part of the Stanley Cup. The guy told me he got this picture in person and I have compared it to other Brodeur autographs and I'm pretty confident that it's a legit Brodeur graph. Despite the placement of the signature I am very happy to have this in my collection.

This 5x7 signed photograph is my pride and joy of my Brodeur autograph collection. The one I'd never ever give up. Why? Because I got this picture signed myself. Marty made an appearance at the NHL Store here in NYC and I waited in line for 2 hours to meet him. I initially wanted to have him sign a puck that I had with me, but the store said he was only signing the picture that was provided. As long as I got to meet my favorite player, I was fine with that. He was nice, smiled and shook my hand and thanked me for the complements and that was it. I do hope too meet him again one day and maybe get that puck signed.

I also have a huge photo of the  Devils 2002 Stanley Cup winning team that Marty signed. I just haven't taken a picture of it as of yet. I will try to do so tonight and show it in tomorrow's blog post.

What about my "holy grail" signed items? The ones I dream of owning one day? Well, I still want a signed puck from Brodeur. That one is the easiest to get. I would also love a signed jersey, goalie stick and maybe a helmet. Those are the "Lotto Money" purchases. I can tell you if I ever did get those items, I would cherish them just as much as I cherish the autographs I have shown you today. There are not that many players I would spend that much on, but I would for Martin Brodeur.

My First Derek Jeter Pick Up

When I first got back into collecting cards back in 2003, one of the players I wanted to collect was Derek Jeter. At that point, Jeter was already an all time great. He had won 4 World Championships, was a World Series and an All Star Game MVP. He was at the top of his popularity, Which was why collecting Jeter was, and still is quite difficult.

Want an autographed baseball? Prepare to shell out over $300.00. His autographed cardboard routinely goes for anywhere from $100.00 to $300.00. Even his game used cards are priced at a premium these days.

Back in 2003, I went to the Hofstra Sports Card show on Long Island. I was looking for anything Yankees, like I still do. I just went in without a game plan and dove into boxes and looked until I found something I wanted and bought it.

On this day, I found this card at a table that had a bunch of other patch cards. I was pretty uneducated about cards, especially patch cards and paid what the lady asked without negotiating. These days, I would have tried to haggle her down from the 30.00 I paid.

Still, regardless of what I paid, it's my very first Jeter pick up as well as my first patch card and it remains in my collection. It's one of my favorite cards in my Jeter collection and I don't see myself parting with it anytime soon. I have since added cards to my Jeter collection, but this one is my favorite.

Cards I Aspire To One Day Own

When it comes to cards, I can be a bit greedy. I have so many, yet I want more and more and more. Unfortunately, my cards are not organized and are in boxes without any rhyme or reason. So, I am currently, in the midst of organizing my cards, slowly. Since there are so may cards, this will take a lot of time. Especially since time is limited for me right now. But as I go through them, I uncover a few gems I had forgot I had, so it's turning into a fun time.

Fuji over at The Chronicles Of Fuji, is doing the same thing I am is is discovering he has some real nice cards. Check out his blog post at:http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2014/07/yeah-thats-ticket.html

Like Fuji, I am finding gems, but I am also working on various player PC's. Some I've been working on for a while, like my Pennington, Teixeira, Tino and Ewing and others I'm starting work on like my Jeter and Curtis Martin. Working on my PC's got me thinking about cards I'd love to add to my various collections. Maybe one day I can own some of these.

1973 Topps Roberto Clemente

I had this card. I remember trading about 10 of my prized Yankee cards for it back in the early 1980's. It somehow disappeared from my collection and wound up in a friend's pile. Of course, he claimed it was his, which was a bold face lie. It was a wreck at that point, so I didn't argue with him. I want it back now. Not because it was his last Topps card, but because it was my first Roberto card I ever owned.

1993 SP Derek Jeter

Now, I have only started putting all my Jeter cards in a binder and I have a lot of Jeter cards. More than I originally thought. I also have quite a few of his rookie cards. But I don't own THE rookie card and that would be the 1993 SP card. This one is the expensive card. I see these cards on eBay go for $99.00 to $150.00 raw. There was a dealer asking $479.00 for a slabbed one, graded BGS 9.

1986 -87 Fleer Patrick Ewing

Funny thing, I am not really a rookie card collector. I don't break open packs of Bowman, looking for that high dollar card. To me, that's not what collecting is about. So I never went looking for rookie cards. Now, I am regretting that. I have another rookie I would love to have in my collection.

I've been a Ewing fan ever since I watched him with Georgetown. When the Knicks won the number 1 draft pick and grabbed Ewing, I was elated. Ewing has been my all time favorite Knick and for me not to have his rookie card is a crime (at least to me). Thankfully, it's not too expensive, so I should be able to pick it up sometime soon.

1969 Topps Mickey Mantle

I don't own any Mickey Mantle cards. OK, let me rephrase that. I don't own any vintage Mickey Mantle cards. For me to own just one would be a big deal to me as I am a Mantle fan. I don't have a Mantle PC, but I still want to own a Mantle card. I picked this card only because it's relatively affordable. I can pick up a nice card for under $100.00, unslabbed. Slabbed, I'm looking to drop $150.00 large and up. Not too bad for a Mickey Mantle card. Better than dropping $200-$400 dollars for a 1959 Topps card.

Going through the cards I already have and finding lost gems is already making a good collection even better. I hope that I can one day add these cards and make my collection even better. I will never stop looking for cards to add to my collections, but that is the life of a collector, isn't it. Always on the hunt for those precious cards to add to various collections. But, it's also fun to own a piece of sports history. I may never have seen Roberto Clemente throw a runner out at third from the warning track or seen Mickey Mantle launch one of his famous tape measure home runs. But I feel owning their cards is just as good. Owning their cards is almost like owning a piece of Americana.

Lets Make A Deal, Hockey Edition

With apologies to the great Monty Hall, Let's Make A Deal! I'm not talking about what's behind door number 1, 2, or 3. I'm not talking about trading in what you have already won for what's inside the mystery box either. I'm talking trades!

I haven't made a trade in a while and I am itching to make a few deals. I have to get a package out to Fuji this week and I would like to add a few more packages to mail as well. I am hoping that I can add some new cards to my collections and I hope I have something you want to trade for.

I am going to post pictures of the cards I have to trade. I am looking for Yankees, Jets, Knicks, Islanders, Mark Teixeira, Tino Martinez, Mike Bossy, Martin Brodeur, Patrick Ewing, David Lee and Wayne Chrebet cards. I would also ask that you mail your end first because I have been cheated a couple of times and don't want that to happen again.

Now, the cards I have aren't exactly high end. I would think this would be a trade for team collectors and player collectors. But, I think I have a couple of things that someone might want.

So, without further ado, here are the cards I have to trade, Hockey first:

Roberto Luongo BAP Signature Portraits signed 8x10

2006-07 BAP Alex Tanguay Autograph

2003 Calder Hockey Tomas Vokoun GU Jersey

2006-07 BAP Todd White Autograph

2005-06 BAP David Legwand Autograph

2002 Titanium Erik Cole GU Jersey

2007-08 BAP Tim Taylor Autograph

2002 Titanium JP Dumont GU jersey

2004 Prism Chris Drury GU jersey

2005-06 BAP Daymond Langkow Autograph

2004 Invincible Fred Brathwaite GU jersey

2006-07 BAP Robert Esche Autograph

2006-07 BAP Mike Sillinger/Trent Hunter Dual Autograph

1998-99 BAP Dave Andreychuk Autograph

2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects Jordan Leopold GU Jersey

2009-10 SPx Erick Karlsson GU Jersey/Autograph- Minor flaw with this one. there is a small ding on the top right corner. It was there when I pulled it out of the box.

2007-08 Upper Deck Ice Peter Forsberg Dual GU Jersey

2006-07 Flair Showcase Zdeno Chara GU Jersey

2010-11 Artifacts Evander Kane Dual GU Jersey

2008-09 BAP Tyler Ennis GU Jersey

2009-10 BAP Jerome Iginla Autograph

2002 Titanium Brett Hull GU Jersey

2010-11 SPx Hendrik Karlsson GU Jersey/Autograph

2007-08 BAP Kris Russell Autograph- I have two of these.

2011-12 Pinnacle Steve Mason City Lights GU Jersey

2008-09 SP Game Used Justin Williams Dual GU Jersey

2008-09 SP Game Used Dion Phaneuf GU Jersey

2006-07 BAP Robert Esche Autograph

I also have a 2003-04 Private Stock Reserve Martin Biron GU Jersey and a 2010-11 Decades 1980's Al MacInnis Autograph that I haven't had a chance to scan as of yet.

If you are interested in any of these cards, please let me know by commenting below with your email address, Google plus account or Facebook and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

I Want Your Islanders!

As of late I have been working on getting my card collection in some sort of order. I went out and bought a 5 shelf book case from Target to house my 41 binders of Yankees, Jets, Islanders, Devils and Knicks collections. I also have binders for my Mike Bossy, Martin Brodeur, Mark Teixeira, Tino Martinez, Wayne Chrebet and Patrick Ewing collections. And I still need more binders for more cards and I will be starting a Joe Namath and John Tavares collections at some point.

On Sunday, I started moving my Islanders collection into a binder and I realized I didn't have as many Islander cards as I thought I did. I am missing sets I thought I had but didn't. I always try to complete the Topps sets and I barely have any Topps Islanders cards. Most of my "Topps" cards are really O-Pee-Chee cards from trades I had made in the past. Plus, I haven't really been buying any hockey cards lately, so I am missing current players as well.

So, I am looking to make some trades. I have base cards, maybe some inserts, game used and autographs to trade. It would probably be mostly base though. I am looking to trade team for team. Your team for my team. Just tell me in the comments below which team you collect and I will get back to you with what I have. If I have any game used or autos, I'll let you know. I can tell you, I don't have any Ducks because my buddy gets all my Ducks cards.

I also don't want to look for anything specific. That may take way too long for me. If you just collect a specific player, I will try my best to see what I have for you.

Hopefully, I can make some trades with you guys and we can help each other build our team sets together, so let me know what you have and let's make a few deals.

Oh Captain, My Captain

I had a feeling this was going to happen. I just didn't think it was going to happen before the season started.

By now, you all know that Derek Jeter announced that the upcoming 2014 season will be his last. He suffered more injuries the past few seasons, his fielding has regressed and he will be 40 years old this season. I did think this would be his last season, but I'm still a bit shocked at the news. Just because Jeter was going to be 40, I always believed that he would rebound. It would not have shocked me if he batted around .290 and had over 200 base hits as he usually does. I still think he will have those kind of numbers. Maybe I have been a bit spoiled, can you blame me? Jeter has been putting up these numbers year in and year out.

What has always gotten my goat is how all the Yankee haters would say things like "If Jeter played in Kansas City, no one would know him." I have always believed that was an insult to Kansas City, plus you are just selling the man short. Jeter has played in 13 All Star Games, has won 5 Gold Gloves and 5 Silver Slugger Awards. He was the Rookie Of The Year in 1996 and was the first player to win MVP of both the All Star Game and World Series. Oh yes, he has 5 World Series rings. How many players are around that has that much hardware? Not a lot, if any.

Like Rivera, Jeter is going to be one of those future first ballot Hall Of Fame players I can say I may have seen about 95% of his games played. I have seen his first hit in 1995 against the Mariners, saw his first home run against the Indians in 1996. I watched dive into stands, become Mr. November, save a playoff game with "The Flip", kill the Mets in the 2000 World Series, become the all time Yankees hit leader, then score his 3,000th hit in Boggs-like fashion with a home run off David Price. Overrated? Yeah, sure he was.

What I'm going to do, from time to time, is show off various Derek Jeter items in my Yankees collection through out the year. Over the years, I have accumulated some nice Jeter pieces. From inserts to game used. From figures to bobbleheads and so forth.

Today, I am going to show off my Jeter autographs. I have yet to be lucky enough to score a signed baseball, picture or bat. My autographed Jeter items are certified cards I have either pulled or bought and I am extremely proud to have these signatures in my Yankees collection and I will never give these up.

2003 Fleer Showcase Sweet Sigs

This was my first Derek Jeter autograph and the only Jeter autograph I paid for. This was bought at the White Plains Sports Card show back in either 2005 or 2006. I had wanted a Jeter autograph for sometime and I had some extra money to play with. I do remember I went into that show determined to pick up a Jeter autograph. After comparing prices, I settled on this card. I got a deal on it, paying $75.00 after getting it down from $100.00.

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum Retrospectrum # 1/2

This was the first Jeter auto I pulled, or should I say, had pulled for me. This was part of a group break with my team collectors group. I actually missed this pull and when I went logged on in the middle of the break and asked if I missed anything it was met with a somewhat sarcastic no, I didn't. Guess I shouldn't have been late.

2009 Upper Deck Baseball Signature Stars Superstar Portraits # 26/35

This Jeter autograph was also pulled during one of the Team Collector group breaks. This time, I got to see the pull. Needless to say, I've been pretty lucky in the group breaks, as far as Jeter pulls goes. I wish he didn't sign this in silver ink though. A darker color would have stood out better, in my opinion. Still, I am proud to own it.

I'll probably show a different Jeter item once a week until I have nothing left to show or when his career ends, whichever comes first. With the amount of Jeter cards I own, I could probably show off one card a week for the next couple of seasons. Going forward, I'll probably just show one Jeter item per blog, just to make sure I have something to show.

Now that Jeter announced his retirement, the 2014 Yankees season will be a season you won't want to miss. Yes, the Yankees added players like Beltran, McCann, Tanaka and Elsbury. But we will all be focusing more on Derek Jeter than any of those stars, as it should be. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees win it all in Jeter's final season. Don't laugh, it could happen.

Stickers? I Went Ga Ga For Them

Over on one of my new favorite blogs, Mark's Ephemera, Mark showed off a haul of 1972 Sunoco NFL Stickers. These were stickers you could only get from the gas station, Sunoco. I was way too young to be able to collect these stickers, so I was never able to get them. I have always wanted to collect the Jets set, but I haven't gotten around to it just yet.

Now, about 9 years later, Topps released a set of stickers that I and every baseball fan I knew my age not only collected, but went absolutely nuts over.

I remember when the album and the stickers first hit the stands. I was in my third year of collecting baseball cards and I loved it. In fact, I remember how much I was enjoying picking up packs of cards and gnawing on the gum that came with the packs. One day, my mom and I went to the local newspaper stand. While my mom was picking up some lottery tickets, I wandered over the comics section. I was, as I still am to this day, a fanatical Spider-Man and Batman fan, so I was looking for the new issues. I remember spinning the rack one half spin when I saw a large yellow book. There was a picture of George Brett on the cover and it read Topps Baseball Sticker Album. Intrigued, I picked up the album and bought it to my mom. Knowing my obsession with baseball, she was more than happy to pick up the album for me. That and I'm sure the 25 cents cover price had something to do with it. Plus, a pack of 4 stickers were 15 cents and that pretty much sealed the deal. I remember walking out with the album and about 2.00 worth of stickers.

One of 262 stickers in that inaugural set. 

That summer, I bought pack after pack after pack of the stickers, trying to complete the Yankees page, then the set of 262 stickers. I would buy the packs, trade the stickers and even got some as gifts, but I don't think I ever completed the set. But it started me on a love affair with sports stickers that would last the next few seasons.

Later that year, I picked up Topps released 1 more sticker album that I picked up and also attempted to complete my team first, then the set.

The football album, Jets first, of course.

The obsession continued over the next few years. I even added a new sport to collect in 1982.

The 1982 Baseball Album with Gary Carter on the cover

Football

And Hockey. See Mike Bossy on the lower right hand corner? I didn't rest until I had a Bossy sticker and I did get him. I only wish I didn't stick it on the Islanders page. It would look pretty sweet in my Bossy Binder right now.

Fleer got into the sticker album biz as well.

I did not collect the Fleer stickers as passionately as I did the Topps stickers though. I don't even know how long Fleer lasted with them.

My sister even got into the sticker album craze.

I continued to collect the stickers and the albums for the next few years, but eventually, my passion for stickers and albums waned and I stopped completely.

A couple of years ago, I saw that Topps and Panini (who made the stickers for Topps in the 80's) started to produce stickers and albums again. I looked them over and they seem nice. But they did not reignite the interest I had for them that I once had in 1981. I may start to pick up the stickers again. Heck, I may even go on eBay and pick up the old albums and sticker sets. But even if I never get back into the sticker game, I will never forget the feeling if excitement I had when I first saw that yellow album on that spinner rack.